Where to start? I can’t even imagine. When last I left you, I was sitting on a plane that was supposedly about to take off. Needless to say, that didn’t quite work out. I was still sitting there two hours later, and trust me, it was even hotter and even more stinky. There was all kinds of different stuff they were telling us, including the following:
They lost the paperwork clearing the plane for takeoff.
They found the paperwork, but the FAA people decided to re-inspect the plane anyway.
They didn’t like the kind of clips they used on the wire bundle that’s been all these problems.
The Mechanic came back with the wrong kind of clip.
They fixed the clip, but the FAA guys couldn’t be found.
Finally, after three hours on the runway, they cleared us for takeoff. At this point, it’s 12:30 and everyone is tired and grumpy. Five minutes after the pilot says we’re good to go, he comes back on and says “Now folks, don’t kill the messenger, but this flight has now been cancelled. A storm system has moved into Oklahoma City, and it’s too dangerous to fly.”
A huge collective groan went up, and we all got off the plane. All one hundred of us went out and stood in the empty airport, with three American Airlines employees standing around, typing on computers. Everyone just lined up and stood there. The airline people made only one announcement, saying they were working on a bus to a hotel for us. And other than that, nothing. I was towards the back of the line, so it seemed like I’d be standing there for about an hour. After fifteen minutes, I heard one of the employees say to someone that there’s not another flight until 10:25 the following night, and that would probably be cancelled too. This is info we probably all should have, IMHO. So with that in my head, I start trying to determine my next move, which is mostly giving up hope. Then someone stands up and says “I’m going to go try and rent a car and drive. Anyone want to go with me?” Why yes, about a dozen of us did. So we all ran down to baggage claim, and I fell in with three other people who seemed to have a plan. Two of them were Paul and Amy, a couple back from their first vacation together, and the other was a young man named Brandon. Paul and Brandon took the shuttle to the rental area to get a car, while Amy and I went to Baggage to get our bags.
Of course, it’d be too easy if our bags were there. That’s no fun at all, is it? An airport employee came down to tell us that if our bag hadn’t come out, it wasn’t here and would turn up tomorrow. Thank god I had put the music me and the kids needed in my carry-on. People started getting pretty mad, and one woman started yelling and kicking a garbage can. So Amy and I decided that’d be a good time to get out of there, and headed to get the shuttle to the rental car area.
Paul and Brandon had gotten over there quickly, and managed to get the last car from one of the two 24 hour rental places. There was a big line, so I don’t know what happened to all those people. I hope they all made it. I saw at least three couples with children, and one lady had a cat. The cat was starting to get upset, so that really had to suck. I wanted to tell her she should just go let the cat run around the bathroom for a while, and let the airport deal with it. We loaded up our car, and set out for Oklahoma City. At this point, it was about 2am, and it’s a good 200 miles to Oklahoma City. We were all starving, so once we got to the interstate, we hit a 24 hour Whattaburger in Denton.
We got to know each other a bit at the Whattaburger. I had been a little worried about getting in a car with three complete strangers. You know, one of them could be an axe murderer. But that seemed unlikely. And I know you couldn’t get an axe through airport security, and even if you could, our bags were lost anyway. But if anyone had said “Hey, can we stop at Wal-Mart? I need to grab an axe” I was out of there. It turned out that Paul and Amy both worked at the Federal prison, and Brandon was a diver in the Navy, so actually I was probably the sketchiest one, being a musician. But they were all very nice, and any port in a storm, as they say.
It was after we left Denton that thing started getting messy. We started hitting the storms that had cancelled our flight, and it was pretty bad. It was raining really hard, and our car was getting blown all over the road. I tried to get some sleep, but it didn’t really happen. I woke up when the car went half way off the road and we hit the rumble strips. I’m pretty sure it was the wind, but part of me was worried that Paul was getting sleepy and had dozed off. So I spent the next hour staying awake and making sure Paul was still ok. He seemed it to me, but I couldn’t fall back asleep. I was also more aware of how bad the weather was, and it was bad. There were actually tornadoes touching down in the area, but thank god we didn’t hit any. Finally about forty miles outside of Oklahoma city, the weather broke and from there on it was smooth sailing. By the time we dropped off Brandon at the airport and got me to my hotel, it was 6am. So I was only held up by eight hours. Not too bad, right? Except that I really needed to leave for Wichita by 11 or so, and I still needed to get my rental car and try to find my luggage. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with American trying to figure out where my bags were. They told me they were in Oklahoma City, and They said they’d be delivered in the morning. The only problem was that they have a six hour window from when they leave the airport in the morning. I was really hoping I’d be able to get my bags, because a) My suit was in there, and I’ve always made a big deal about good dress to my students, and If I showed up without it, they’d never let me hear the end of it, and b) I’d really like clean underwear. But there wasn’t much I could do about it, so I laid down for my 2 hours of sleep.
I woke up around 9am. I tried to call american to ask about my bags, but no one was answering any phones. Not surprising, considering there were 120,000 people whose flights had been messed up. So I got up and took the shuttle to the car rental place. I almost had a disaster there, because it turns out National car rental won’t rent to anyone using a debit card if they don’t have their return flight information on them. Mine was back at the hotel, because I had no idea I’d need it to rent a car. The guy at the counter wasn’t particularly helpful or nice. He just told me to call American and get my info. Right, because they have nothing else to do! Then he told me to take a shuttle to the airport and get it from the ticket counter, which I’m sure would also be peaceful and quiet. I politely asked if maybe their shuttle could just run me to my hotel, which is 2 miles away, and he said “We don’t go there.” Nice. Way to go the extra mile for your customers. He then told me to go try one of the other companies. Even nicer. Finally, after a call to the LMGF I managed to get the info I needed and get my car, but this stupid thing wasted about 45 minutes. And it turns out that National is the only company with this policy.
I went back to my room to see if my bag had shown up, and it hadn’t, so I showered and made a last ditch run to the airport to get my bag. Finally, my luck started to change, and my bag was sitting there, waiting for me, sadly chained to a bunch of other lonely bags. It’s amazing how happy that made me. It was my first big break, and I really needed it. I got back into my rented Pontiac G6 and hightailed it to Wichita.
I arrived in Wichita around 2:45, and by the time I got into the school, found my kids, and got changed, it was 3:30. So we had just enough time to get set up and get organized. Did I mention that one of my students came down with a wicked sinus infection the day before they left and so he couldn’t make the trip? So in addition to conducting the group I was also playing his parts on two of the songs. Not at all ideal, and trying to play the parts while keeping an eye on the group was really tricky. But my kids all did a good job, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was good. I’m proud of all of them. The room was also really small, and that’s certainly not the best setup for five guitars, bass, and a Drum set. I was also nervous because Jerry Hahn was there writing comments for us. But his comments were positive and constructive. After our show he did a 90 minute master class for some of the kids as well as a few teachers. I think the teachers learned more than the kids did, and he gave one of the best answers I’ve ever heard when asked about picking technique. Trying to teach good right hand technique is one of the bigger challenges to learn, and his approach is going to be really helpful. (I don’t feel like explaining, but if you happen to be a guitarist leave me a comment and I’ll write it up.)
After the class, I had to pretty much hightail it back to Oklahoma City. I had a three hour drive as well as a 8:45am flight to catch the next morning and it was already 7:00pm. I’m currently writing this from the Dallas airport. My first flight was delayed and so I missed my Austin connection, but I was re-booked on a later flight that only gets in 3 hours later. And they even bumped me to 1st class! I wish the flight was a little longer than 45 minutes, but oh well. Assuming all is well, I’ll be home by 2 and on my way to Houston by 3 or 4. Might even get some sleep before I start the ride tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted. In my original entry, I had the picture below at the very end. Considering how everything had worked out, I took it out because It was way too optimistic. But I’m feeling good now, so here it is. Enjoy.
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